This volume presents information on secondary vocational education compiled by the recently completed National Assessment of Vocational Education. Chapter 1 provides information about regional, district, and school-level availability of vocational education and the institutions that provide it. It reports the following: availability differs by…

This publication is designed as a resource for practitioners to develop proactive practices that promote positive parent, family, and community relationships with schools. The strategies proposed are based on Epstein's 6-type model of parent and family involvement. Chapters 1 through 6 provide a comprehensive look at promoting and developing…

This study examined Mexican American college students' perceptions of career-related barriers and the relationship between perceptions and the students' sense of control over and responsibility for career decision making. Mexican American students (57 men and 68 women) at a state-supported university in the Southwest completed a demographic…

This study examined the role of faculty participation on strategic change within higher education. An open-ended questionnaire was completed by seven individuals from Singapore and the United States who had had experience with higher education strategic planning and change as both faculty and administrators in Australia, Canada, Singapore, and the…

This study explores, from a critical-theory perspective, the relationship of power among stakeholders in either a mandated or voluntary elementary-school-site decision-making body (SSDMB). The purpose is to describe, explain, and clarify complexities regarding the influence exerted by parents on the decision-making process in two selected…

This digest summarizes the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (IDEA 97) with emphasis on changes in the new law. First, it highlights principal changes in the law. These changes include participation of children and youth with disabilities in state and districtwide assessment programs; the way in which…

The level of confidence in pass/fail decisions obtained with computer adaptive tests (CATs) was compared to decisions based on paper-and-pencil tests. Subjects included 645 medical technology students from 238 educational programs across the country. The tests used in this study constituted part of the subjects' review for the certification…

This project, a multiple case study, was conducted to learn more about the conditions under which teacher collaboration might be expected to occur; to improve understanding of variation in the form of collaboration among teachers; and to understand more about the consequences of such activity on teachers and students. Data were collected from 95…

This compendium provides 73 programmatic approaches for involving parents in their children's education. These strategies demonstrate the broad range of ways in which principals and teachers communicate with parents and work to help them support their children's learning. The strategies are organized into six categories. The first is home-school…

The keynote addresses introduced conference participants both to general perspectives on school choice and to a specific focus on Maryland issues, concerns, and problems. In the panel discussion, four educational administrators discussed particular aspects of choice plans in their own subdivisions in different states. In the six discussion groups,…

This study examined a longitudinal data set (9th through 12th grade students from Indiana) to pose questions about the importance students place on certain college and university attributes as part of their college choice process. Using factor analysis, analysis of variance, and discriminant analysis on data about a representative sample of 110…

This manual's purpose is to help adult-education instructors to deal with addictive or preaddictive behavior in their Native American students. The impact of alcohol and drug-related social problems has been devastating to Native communities. It is essential to examine broader issues such as cultural identity, ethnic pride, self-confidence, and…

This report provides results of a Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The OCR wanted input for their decision-making process on possible modifications to their biennial survey of a national sample of public school districts (PSDs). The survey, the…

All employees are influenced by career management actions at each step of their career. The responsibility for career planning rests with the individual, whereas the responsibility for career development support should be the employer's: career management is a shared decision. Career planning training helps employees to analyze their interests and…

New interest by Australians in the state of rural education requires new understanding of factors affecting rural education and its related issues. Educational programs have not been flexible enough to cope with rural diversity, a key element in the milieu. Standards such as "equality of opportunity" and "uniformity" have been…